What do you think of this test?

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http://www.cio.com/article/facial-expressions-test

Do you think this test has some problems, or do you think it is good?

It's scary. They all look like freaky zombie people. Get the shotguns!

Hmm, well, it's interesting anyway. It depends on your ability to judge an expression very quickly. I got four out of ten right, but I was analyzing it, not going by gut feeling. Most of the time I didn't have enough time to identify the expression consciously.

I don't know whether it is useful, but it's interesting.

I only got three right. The movements went too fast.

I had to watch each expression an average of five times before I had a clue as to what it was. The one that I was able to correctly identify right away was the guy with the "disgust" face, because while I was watching him, the program stalled, and I saw that his nose was wrinkled, and I've read that disgust is manifested by a wrinkled nose.

Like Callista said, I found myself trying to analyze the expressions because I was not able to process them while they were happening.

I remember reading about Dr. Paul Ekman, who pioneered this research on "microexpressions," in a New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell about six or seven years ago. Part of the article discussed a policeman with an ability to detect microexpressions who used this skill to determine whether or not a young man with a gun was about to shoot him. Although the young man had gotten out of his car with his gun drawn and was pointing it at the police officer, the officer didn't shoot. The officer described that something didn't feel right, and that he somehow knew that the young man was not a threat. He was right -- after a minute, the young man lowered his gun.

Clearly, reading microexpressions can be useful, especially if you are in a job or a life situation where it is necessary to quickly analyze someone's face. However, it is not only we on the spectrum that have difficulty reading microexpressions -- I've read that many neurotypicals have difficulty reading them, as well.

Judging from this test, I have difficulty reading microexpressions, and this may contribute to my difficulties in managing social situations. However, there are non-aspies who have trouble reading microexpressions who are able to handle social situations just fine. I think that reading microexpressions is a useful but not essential part of interacting with other people, and that other factors may play a more significant role in determining one's abilities to interact socially.

In my case, my difficulties in reading facial expressions and body language do not affect my social interactions as much as the fact that I tend to overwhelm/overstimulate very quickly, and being around other people is an overstimulating environment that I want to get away from as fast as possible.

My $0.02.

~ Caterina

Numbers 5-10 I got right on my first guess.
For numbers 1-4, I had an average of 4 wrong guesses before I got the correct answer.
For the last few expressions, I paid attention to what I'd learned from the first few (x movement of y part of the face = z emotion), which helped.
Even with the ones I got wrong at first, I could tell whether the emotion was positive or negative.

5/10. It forces you to judge quickly, as in a real-time situation, but is a bit too fast.

got two right. eh

The first one, I did like 10 times before I got it right. After that, I got between 3-5 right on the first try, & the rest right around the fifth try.

This test would be more reliable if it didn't go so fast. No one's expressions change that fast in real life.

Did very well at this.

Got 7 out of 10 right on the first go.

But in a real life confusing, crowded situation with lots of people with constantly changing facial expressions and distractions, I don't think I'd do as well. I probably wouldn't be able to initiate conversations very smoothly with these people in real life: they'd probably have to initiate for me. I think I could talk to the sad girl to help her feel better though.

I've probably learned most facial expressions by studying cartoons (stylised expressions) and real life experience.

I think in my case, it's more of a social participation issue and projecting myself correctly than an interpretation issue. I also don't behave cliquishly and in sync like many people do. There seems to be an upper limit on the number of people I can keep track of too.

7 correct on the first try, 3 I couldn't identify and didn't bother to find out.

I stared at the mouths.

Huh? I couldn't do this test. It goes WAY too fast for me to even see the whole image. My eyes don't take anything in that fast. I blink and miss it. Also the fact that it doesn't change smoothly is horribly distracting.

got about 6 or 7 right, not bad

I got 8/10 on the first try. Numbers 6 and 7 took me a couple of attempts.

Was the idea to present the images so fast that people on the spectrum don't have time to direct their attention to specific features, whereas NTs can process the whole face in the time allotted? If that's the idea, I don't know that it worked as intended in my case. I'm NT and I did it simply by focusing on the mouth. In the brief flash, the most I could do was to determine the positioning of the mouth, and I got my answer that way. In real life, though, I look at the eyes and think about the overall appearance of the face to judge emotion.

yes - two.
analysis or intuition - a cogintive processing or a gut response? really, that is something they should also try to test with the facial expression recognition testing....from what i have read, as we get older with AS we can learn a lot of facial recognition and emotions processing but it is through cogncitive processing and through intellctually articulate effort and not through intuitive kind of osmosis.

when i was a small child, i read faces as angry. i though everyone was just angry....except my granny and a particular nun who i had in second gread at school....and what i have recently realised about them was that they were extremely verbally clear in their expressions of care for me.......always needed the literal expressions in that resepct to make sense of people.

i have ALWAYS gravtitated towards up front and clear people...people who say what they mean and they think they could be from any walk o flife -- but the number one priority for me has always been "how verbally clear is a person?" that, to me, has always equated with safety.

at least i understand it all now.

I'm with you on this one. I couldn't discern anything from those quick flashes. Even when I held down the keys and examined the expressions I still got disgust and contempt confused.